The invention relates to a method and to a device for slicing food products in the form of meat, sausage, cheese and the like by means of a cutting apparatus, in particular by means of a slicer, wherein the products are cut into slices and transported away in portions for further processing from a collection area disposed adjacent to the slicing apparatus by means of a feeding device, with a first feed unit having a length which can be substantially matched to the maximum length of a complete portion being used as the collection area and with an incomplete portion resulting in each case at the start and at the end of a product slicing procedure being completed after an intermediate positioning in a parking position and a return into the collection area by slices produced after the start of a further product slicing procedure and meeting determinable requirements.
Food products, in particular in the form of meat, sausage, ham, cheese and the like, are industrially sliced in very large quantities by means of so-called slicers and packed in portions. In this respect, modern slicers are in a position to execute a lot more than 500 cuts per minute, with it being possible in dependence on the movement of the respective collection surface of the individual slices to form portions in shingled form or in stack form and to lead them away for further processing in each case very rapidly from the respective collection area. In this respect, it is not only demanded in practice that the individual portions be formed with an exact weight, but the respective portions must have a perfect and high quality appearance, which is the same as saying that the individual slices of a portion must not vary too much from one another in their dimensions.
Such unwanted deviations in appearance, that is, as a rule in the size of the slices, occur above all on the transition from one sliced product to the next product to be sliced, that is, at a product change. It frequently occurs at such a product change that the residual product quantity available for the portion just sliced is no longer sufficient to reach the number of slices required for the portion, and with many products the cross-sectional area moreover changes so strongly toward the end of the product that slices are produced which are too small and which no longer meet the demands made on the portions to be formed with respect to the required appearance. To allow the respective quality and accuracy demands to be met, it is consequently still usual to employ inspectors for the constant inspection of the portions formed who have to ensure that non-acceptable portions are eliminated from the production process or manually corrected.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for slicing food products that allows a substantial increase in the economic efficiency of the slicing procedure and ensures that only perfect portions which correspond to determinable criteria are formed in the course of a product slicing procedure.
This object is satisfied in accordance with the invention substantially in that a cut surface of the product is monitored during the product slicing procedure as to whether it at least meets determinable size criteria for the supply of a slice to be sliced next into an incomplete portion and, if these criteria are not met, the product slicing procedure is interrupted and simultaneously the difference is registered between an actual value and a desired value of a size defining the complete portion; in that the incomplete portion is conveyed onto a second feed unit connected to the first feed unit into the parking position while detecting the displacement path; in that the cut surface is then again monitored during the product slicing procedure of the next product of the same kind and, if the determined criteria are met, the incomplete portion is again positionally accurately moved back into the collection area in accordance with the detected displacement path and is completed; and in that finally the completed portion is conveyed out of the collection area in the conveying direction by synchronization of at least the first feed unit with further feed elements of the feeding device.
The provided cut surface monitoring is accordingly of substantial importance for the invention in conjunction with the transporting of incomplete portions into a parking position, from which this incomplete portion is again positionally accurately moved back into the collection area for completion, when it is determined in the course of the cut surface monitoring as part of the further slicing of products that, after a phase of forming slices not suitable for the relevant portion, product slices are again available which are suitable for completion of the portion.
The method of the invention is suitable both for the forming of shingled portions and for the formation of stacked portions, since it is possible, in particular when using incrementally controlled drives in conjunction with an exact detection of the displacement path, to again guide a partial portion moved to the parking position back to the collection area so exactly while evaluating the recorded data that the next slice suitable to complete the portion is put down exactly at the desired position of the portion corresponding thereto.
It is accordingly not only ensured that portions of constant weight are obtained by a suitable feed control in the product supply, but it is above all also achieved that portions are formed within which the appearance of the slices forming the portions are largely the same or have differences only within a determinable tolerance range. It is thus possible to ensure an extremely high quality portion formation automatically and without manual corrections with high economic efficiency.